KipWellsFan

It is a little odd how little work Foster is getting. But his ERA is under 2 since the beginning of May.

I don't mind Escobar as depth, or a platoon bat while we deal with so many injuries, but I'm not actually convinced he is much of an upgrade over Mendick. I think he has 5 seasons with a sub .300 OBP, and he is working on a sixth. His big power seasons almost seem like an outlier. Not sure about his defence.

Living in Canada these games are blacked out on MLB TV. A real Bummer.

Okay fine

Can we just not with the TLR reference in the subject... does everything positive/negative about this guy gotta be the focus of Soxtalk? I realize this was probably done with tongue in cheek. But c'mon! Bad mojo for the game thread!

Because it may be COVID related does this mean it may only be a couple days/games?

Been great to see him step up as Robert went down and Yermin hit a rough patch. He's been putting the team on his back. However, I think his BABIP is the highest in all of baseball so it wouldn't be surprising to see him cool off a little. Hopefully others step up when/if that happens.

Delete your account.

Hasn't Fangraphs or someone done a definitive lineup analysis or something so we can put these endless debates mostly to rest? And I mean analysis of lineup construction in general. Not of the White Sox specifically.

Goosebumps when the music kicks in and Yoan comes in.

Seems unlikely that Foster is going anywhere. In his last 7.1 IP he has only allowed 2ER. In the same period his ERA has declined from 12.79 to 6.59. And he was obviously quite reliable last year. Does a rehab assignment automatically mean someone is getting called up?

Interesting that Collins gets the day game after catching the night before.

The last time this board was moping about Nick Madrigal and speculating that Danny Mendick should replace him, Madrigal got hot and raised his BA about 100 points. Let's hope that happens again. The team has a lot invested in Madrigal. Unless he goes on a major cold streak I imagine they will be sticking with him. Nothing suggests Mendick has a higher ceiling than Nicky.

This didn't age well.

Me when Moncada slid into first base tonight: I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

Why does this threat title have "lack of effort and interest" in quotations? That's not what Stone said. That aside, I don't think Stone's comments are ridiculous. He was a sympathetic voice in support of Moncada last year while he was dealing with COVID, and I don't think Stone has a history of beating up on Moncada unfairly. There have been a few instances in the past couple weeks where Moncada didn't run as hard as he could out of the box. He got caught being a spectator on his deep flyball the other day, and he doesn't always keep on the jets on singles and balls toward the gap in case there is a bobble that allows him to take an additional base. To me those are examples where he isn't maximizing potential positive outcomes. Nonetheless, these weren't major things. And for all we know if he played to the absolute limit all the time he might miss a lot of time due to injury. Instead, he is actually quite reliable. I think it was the running issues combined with Stone's anger about all the strange pop up plays lately with Moncada. I'm not surprised it boiled over for Stone a little bit. Doesn't help that Moncada has that natural cool demeanor that players like Madrigal and Eaton don't have. Moncada can make the game look easy sometimes. If Moncada raises his game a little more he comes pretty elite. I love all the walks he is able to take, and I think he's reached base safely in 25 of the last 26 games. And outside of his weird play on pop outs he is very gifted at third.

Meh. I don't mind flipping Madrigal into that spot, but the difference between Eaton batting 2nd or 9th seems marginal. Also I wouldn't be doing anything to mess around with Moncada hitting 3rd, and Abreu hitting 4th in the lineup. That seems to be working nicely.

Or just his little goatee thing maybe?

Juggernaut?! I just hope we can win a game!

Bennetti is great. Stop.

Are these 7 innings today?

I'm not going to argue that Grandal is having a great season... but what other option do we really have? Collins does seem pretty solid behind the plate. But he has never proven he can hit at the major league level. Are we all of a sudden ready to let him take 400 at bats? And I also have to believe there is something to all the stat-head love for Grandal. I saw one list from like a month ago that ranked Yasmani #31 in ALL OF BASEBALL. And if he can cut out the catcher's interference I still think he is a strong pitch framer. I thought he stole a few strikes for Lucas last night.

This is what I was thinking... Cease hasn't hit 5 innings in 7 starts. That's not really tenable.

Also I hope COVID hasn't in some way materially affected his ability to identify pitch types.

This is very interesting. Thanks Jack! First impression... This is still a very small sample size for 2021. His batting average has actually never been higher against fastballs. That will probably come down a little. Second impression is that he hasn't always struggled against breaking balls and offspeed. In 2019 he was almost as good against offspeed as fastballs. Hopefully things start returning to a more normal rate against breaking and offspeed.